Honeybees, bumblebees or mason bees are known in general as pollinators to be used for pollinating commercial crops such as fruits and vegetables. An effective breeding technique has been developed for bumblebees, which are used for pollinating solanaceous plants including tomatoes (JP2008-113605).
Bumblebees for pollination, sold in the market, are being contained in a nest box, typically made of cardboard, comprising an inner box preferably made of plastic, with their hive inside. (For example, the Tokai Bussan product from Hanyton, which is a bumblebee box for pollination.) Using bumblebees for pollination requires supplying them with appropriate nutrients from outside the hive in order to facilitate their efficient pollination for a certain period. Appropriate ventilation in the nest box is important as high humidity inside the hive may deteriorate breeding conditions for the bumblebees by causing protein decomposition in the nest box or getting the hive infested with ticks and consequently hamper pollination efficiency.
Also temperatures above 34° C. can adversely affect development of the bees and normal functioning thereof. Although they are still able to fly at temperatures up to 35° C., but they prefer to stay at the nest to ventilate the brood. Above 32° C., bumblebee workers not only stop foraging and start ventilating the brood, but they also stop feeding the larvae. Bumblebee larvae can starve for a considerable length of time (up to 2-3 days) before they die; however, a period of starvation results in a more prolonged developmental time. At around 40° C. bees prevent their own bodies from overheating by becoming inactive, and they stop fanning. As long as they are ventilating the nest, they are able to keep the brood temperature equal to, or just above) (1-2°, ambient temperature, but at temperatures over 40° C. they are not able to cool the brood below ambient temperature. Although there is no clear agreement on the temperature threshold limit, it has been indicated that an ambient temperature of 40° C. is about the maximum temperature at which bumble bee colonies can survive, on condition that a sufficient energy supply is available, but for the reasons given hereinbefore, at these elevated temperatures normal functioning of the bees and hive development is adversely affected. This makes commercial use of bumblebees problematic for greenhouse production of vegetables such as tomato, eggplant and pepper in warm climates unless an enabling technology is developed.
The existing ventilation hole(s) found on the lower part and upper part of a nest box such as the Standard hive, which is commercially available from Biobest Belgium N.V. and as shown in FIG. 2, did not serve the purpose sufficiently on its/their own and improvement was sought.
In an earlier effort to provide a nest box with adaptable ventilation behaviour, Man Yanai et al. (PCT Publication WO 00/57694) installed electrically operated ventilation mechanism at a face of the nest box. Where this solution provides satisfactory results, and in particular when installed at the top face of the nest box, it significantly enhances the costs for an economic and disposable nest box. The electrically ventilation mechanism further requires maintenance and at breakdown requires immediate attention of the grower.
This invention has been developed in response to the above situation and aims to deliver economic and disposable nest box for bumblebees, etc. that provides sufficient and adaptable ventilation inside the nest box, in response to the environmental conditions of temperature and humidity. After careful consideration, the inventor discovered that sufficient ventilation can be achieved in the nest box by making a ventilation hole(s) on component panel(s), i.e. by introducing a deployable ventilation panel in the area above the inner box comprising the hive, which basically completes the present invention.
As will be apparent from the examples hereinafter, the ventilation of the nest box of the present invention can easily be adapted by means of a deployable (installable) ventilation panel that in open position extends the nest box above the inner box comprising the hive. In particular when present as a deployable and integrated member of the nest box, it allows an easy adaptation of the ventilation conditions within the hive in response to the environmental conditions of temperature and humidity. Different from the artificially ventilated hive above, the nest box of the present invention requires no further attention